“Democracy had been used as a whore and abused at will during previous elections”
Novel writing is a challenging job; a labourious task allied with uncompromising evaluation and out-and-out clarification. Shafi Ahmad’s is popularly known for his Half Widow, but his style of writing Shadow Beyond The Ghost Town cannot be ignored. He seems a natural story teller with ample elaborations to be appropriate to transmit what otherwise is most often concealed under the concentrated array of allegories and literal lavishness. The narrator in this novel has aptly used a local narrative in third person, turning this work into a remarkable piece of art by obeying the rules of a third person narration.
The novel opens at Arwanpora village with Kashmir Dispute running in the background with a survey by a group of military officials to occupy the orchard of Ama Ganie. The novel takes us back to the family history of the protagonist who won the heart of an overseer (Bob Jee) and emerged as a contractor to take pleasure from the luxuries of life. Insurgency of 1989 soon finds its link with 1987 elections which was high jacked beyond narrative. The martyrdom of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq and the severity of youth joining militancy compel Ama Ganie to inspire his younger son to cross the border. This move by Ama Ganie acts as a double edged sword. One to handle a man who had recently joined the militant group who along with his group mates once spend the night at Ama Ganie’s newly constructed house. The man was insulted by Ama Ganie ruthlessly when he was working with a department of which Ama Ganie was enjoying grandmotherly airs. And the second was to stay safe from the militants. The decision of sending his son has come to fore through a soliloquy thus revealing the conflict Ama Ganie was undergoing with himself. In the mean time Ama Ganie’s orchard was captured by army to enjoy security. Ama Ganie’s self proclamation received a serious jolt when he failed to read the mind at work by military officer who called six members of the village whose sons had taken arms, thus exposing them before the entire village on one side and being in close proximity with the relatives of rebellions to control the militants indirectly on the other hand to snatch their comforts.
The novel further expands in the form of Ama Ganie’s elder son Nazir who moved to Srinagar to study Engineering at NIT and in the meanwhile Farooq the younger son returned after getting armed training across LoC. A lady military official Lt. Arti who had developed friendship with daughters of Ama Ganie arrived at the house where she passed a warm glare at Nazir. A crackdown by army held many youngsters of the village whose relatives directly approached Ama Ganie for being friendly with army major. His meeting with major further disturbed Ama Ganie for he was informed to take due care of his son who is active and on the hit list of the army. The information disturbed him. The warm smile of Arti had compelled her to drop a message at NIT through a peon. The brief message had a lengthy romance in stored.
Meet me near SBI in cantonment area on 28th 3p.m.
The change of fortune is well seen in this section of the novel when the father of a man who had joined the militancy and compelled Ama Ganie to push his son into militancy was pleading for his son’s release from Ama Ganie. Arti and Nazir had obeyed their hearts and met after Arti was shifted to Srinagar cantonment hospital after she registered a complaint of falling health. The young hearts only promised to meet again for the reason best known to them.
Ama Ganie finally convinced Major Salvan to strike a deal:
Fifty thousand for purely innocent. Seventy five for upper ground worker.
One Lac for Kashmiri trained militant Two hundred thousand for Pak trained one.
Ama Ganie followed the deal by adding hundred folds to loot the relatives. The goodwill encouraged major Salvan to resume band saw for the logs would be supplied easily but on fifty fifty bases. The deal was finalized. A gesture of friendship encouraged major Salvan to arrange iftiyar party on one hand and on the other Arti’s invitation to daughters of Ama Ganie for breakfast at the camp. Romance now opens more profoundly between Arti and Nazir and the daughter of Ama Ganie Ruby was also being watched by the captain. The situation in the novel takes a U-turn when David approached Ama Ganie for support and later Ama Ganie’s money minting process was challenged, ensuring his fall. The love affair between Ruby and the captain reached to one and all and Ama Ganie resolved the situation by declaring she must be married soon. David, a common enemy of major Salvan and Ama Ganie was attacked by renegades by the orders of major Salvan who earlier had demanded Ama Ganie to use his son for the act. In between these tense conditions Ruby’s interest in captain severed that lead the killing of Shazi her sister— honour killing as mentioned by the narrator, but the guess is open, so many people are marked. The tragedy doesn’t end here Farooq’s unmarked grave was located by Rashid with the help of a villager who had buried him on the demand of army. The shades of the ghost town fell upon Arti when Nazir was abducted, later traced by Arti and Ruby, thus ends the love story of Arti and Nazir. The mastermind major Salvan’s suicide with his service revolver resolved many questions. The novel ends with a new beginning as Art and Ruby both visualizing the future generation playing in the orchard.
Besides this strong story line, there are numerous micro stories depicting typical Kashmir culture. These mini tales are in no place felt as digressions, but an integral part of the plot. Through these well-knit micro details, a foreign reader will be guided to peep into the very core of the Kashmiri culture. Traditions, beliefs, customs, religious offerings and orchard chemistry besides proper use of military and local narrative are the features of this novel. Shafi Ahmad has emerged as a serious novelist by providing us a vivid space to peep down the story line. The characters have been suitably handled, characterization is apt, dialogues are severe and above all the structure of the novel is maintained. One can easily recognise the internal conflict that with requirement of the plot is heightened to prescribe an intense climax and the final fall. Humanity wrapped in the uniform has excellently been displayed and the vice versa. The diction is simple. There are three narrative Shafi Ahmad has skillfully employed one: a common narrative of Ama Ganie, the counter narrative by major Salvan and in between these two narrative most powerful narrative __ the narrative of unmarked graves of which Arti has emerged as a strong voice. All these narrative have been handled superbly by Shafi Ahmad, making his a serious observer for which he honestly needs applaud. The postscript__ a narrative that “beyond doubt” released by APDP. The novel is overall a good read, however, and better translation and better layout would have added grace to the novel.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Mushtaq B.Barq is a Columnist, Poet and Fiction Writer. He is the author of “Feeble prisoner, “ Wings of Love” and many translation works are credited to the author like “ Verses Of Wahab Khar” and “ Songs Of Sochkral”